Friday, July 6, 2012

This is probably the most moist, picture perfect cake I've made. It was a different kind of recipe in that it used oil instead of the butter like I normally use. They "domed" ideally too. Found the cake recipe off tastykitchen.com and the frosting recipe off food.com

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

cake:

2 cupsFlour

2-½ cupsSugar

¾ cupsUnsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 teaspoonsBaking Soda

1 teaspoonSalt

1 cupVegetable Oil

1 cupSour Cream

1 teaspoonInstant Espresso Or Instant Coffee Granules

1-½ cupWater

1 teaspoonVanilla Extract

2 TablespoonsWhite Vineger

2 wholeLarge Eggs, At Room Temperature

1.Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well.
2. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend.
3. Mix the ground espresso into the water then gradually beat into the batter mixture.
4. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla.
5. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed.
6. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.
7. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Who doesn't love bagel dogs?! This recipe is super easy if you have a
Kitchenaid mixer and the hook attachment. Easy peasy. And don't they
look pretty?? Yummers. Recipe from tastykitchen.com

Bagel Dogs

4 cupsBread Flour

1 TablespoonSugar

1-½ teaspoonSalt

1 TablespoonVegetable Or Olive Oil

2 teaspoonsInstant Yeast

1-½ cupWarm Water

10 wholePolish Sausages Or Hot Dogs

Mix all ingredients but the sausages,
and only 1 1/4 cups of the water into a large bowl. You can add the
additional water if it looks like not all the flour will mix or the
dough is extra stiff. (I end up using about 1 1/3 cups, but altitude,
indoor temp, etc may change it). Dough will be sticky.
Tip dough onto clean counter and knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth.
Cut dough into even pieces and let rest 10-20 minutes. (10 for bagel
dogs since smaller dough is better, but 8-10 regular bagels can be made
with the dough.)
Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough into a long
rectangular piece twice as long as the hotdog/sausage. Wrap diagonally
across the hotdog, making sure there is overlap, then tuck the ends in
when done.
Let rest 5 minutes.
While resting, boil a large pot of water on stove and preheat oven to
425. Once boiling is reached, place bagel dogs in water for one minute
each, then let them sit on a tea towel/paper towel to dry for 30
seconds. For authenticity, sprinkle top with poppyseeds. You can also
use dried onion, sesame seeds, kosher salt, or anything else.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until bagels are golden, take out and let
cool. If you didn’t wrap them tight enough with good overlap, they can
unwind a bit, as shown for the middle one the picture above (I was
impatient).

Hands down, this is seriously one of the best things I've ever made. And it's probably the easiest too. How the hell does that work??? I tried these tasty treats originally in San Diego at a little bakery in Ocean Beach. I've been trying to remake the delights ever since. Finally found a recipe suggesting melting white chocolate and rice krispie treats and I said AH HAH!

Rice Krispie Utopia treats

Melt white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Melt initially for a minute, stir, and nuke another 30 seconds. Stir and repeat the 30 sec intervals until fully melted. Stir in the peanut butter until well combined. Mix in the rice krispies until coated and then the mini marshmallows. Pour into a dish sprayed with non-stick spray and lightly press down into the form. Allow to cool and cut into squares.